Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Duane Chapman
A Mother’s Hope
I remember more than one story where a godly mother had been praying for decades for her son, who was in prison, to be saved. Year after year, the woman prayed with no visible results. I’m sure most people would have given up long ago, but this mother never did when everyone else had. This particular woman prayed, and after 22 years, she got a letter from her son that said he heard a prison minister tell him that unless a person believes in Christ, they will be separated from all their loved ones who have trusted in Christ, for all eternity. For some reason, what this minister said made him cry. The prisoner had remembered all those years of prayers and letters that his mother had sent him, never giving up on him. He thought about the fact that unless he was saved, he would never see his mother again. Today, this man leads his own Bible study in prison. The hope of a mother’s heart brought a miracle to a prisoner and set him free.
The Barren’s Hope
When Hannah saw that all the rest of her family and friends had been blessed with children, “Hannah wept and would not eat” (1 Sam. 1:8), being grieved over her childlessness. In fact, “she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly” (1 Sam. 1:10), and so she prayed, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head” (1 Sam. 1:11). Finally, “… the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the Lord’” (1 Sam. 1:19b-20). Hannah kept on praying to God, and He made the barren womb fruitful. “Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters” (1 Sam. 2:21).
Hope in Christ
When we share the Gospel, we have the only message of true hope in this world, and that is the hope that is found in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). In fact, “we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12). Our hope is not in this world, as Paul writes, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19), but we have the hope of Christ after death and in the kingdom. So “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).
Conclusion
Never give up on God because the hope of the praying mother, the barren, and the believer is not hopeless but has promises bound up in God’s precious promises. He is ever faithful and will never disappoint. It is true–there’s hope. A miracle happened to me, and if you are saved, one happened to you, too!
